Note: This is an adaptation of a report currently in the HAER collection at the Library of Congress to illustrate the outline format: engineering structures. HISTORIC AMERICAN ENGINEERING RECORD HONEY RUN BRIDGE (Carr Hill Road Bridge) HAER No. CA-312 Location: Spanning Butte Creek at bypassed section of Honey Run Road (originally Carr Hill Road), Paradise vicinity, Butte County, California Honey Run Bridge is located at latitude: 39.75972, longitude: -121.62083. The coordinate represents the west end of the bridge. It was obtained in September 2002 by plotting its location on the Hamlin Canyon, California Quad map. The Honey Run Bridge has no restriction on its release to the public. Present Owner: Butte County, California; the Honey Run Bridge Association cares for the structure Present Use: Historic landmark and tourist attraction Significance: Honey Run Bridge is the best preserved of four surviving examples of Pratt-type wood covered bridges in the United States. Thomas and Caleb Pratt patented the Pratt truss in 1844, which features wood compression members and iron tension members. The design, favored for its strength and adaptability, became the standard American truss for moderate spans on both railroads and highways by 1870 and remained so well into the twentieth century. Historian: Lola Bennett, September 2002 Project Information: The National Covered Bridges Recording Project is part of the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER), a long-range program to document historically significant engineering and industrial works in the United States. HAER is administered by the Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record/Historic American Landscapes Survey, a division of the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. The Federal Highway Administration funded the project. HONEY RUN BRIDGE HAER No. CA-312 Page 2 Part I. Historical Information A. Physical History: 1. Dates of construction: 1886-1887 2. Engineer: American Bridge Company, San Francisco 3. Builder: American Bridge Company, San Francisco 4. Original plans and construction: In September 1886, the Butte County Board of Supervisors ordered the County Clerk to publish a notice to contractors for plans and proposals for a wood bridge across Butte Creek at the Carr Hill Road crossing. In this notice, the supervisors listed the following specifications. The bridge in the center to be at least 7 feet above high water mark; center piers to be two iron cylinders, about 5 and 9 feet in height respectively, filled with concrete, resting on the large rocks that project in the stream; the western shore pier also to be an iron cylinder filled with concrete. There is to be a clear span over the main channel not less than 125 feet in length; a rock wall or abutment to be built at each end about 5 feet high, rock to be laid in cement mortar. Total length of bridge needed, 240 feet, width 16 feet. To be constructed in a substantial manner, and all square timbers to be of No. 1 spruce. The Board prefers the Howe Truss pattern for the longest span, and strain beam for short spans, but bidders may make their bids in whatever kind of truss they prefer.1 Physical and documentary evidence indicates that the bridge was not covered at the time of its construction. 5. Alterations and additions: The timber trusses of the center and westerly span are now covered with metal sheathing, which would have been unnecessary if the bridge had been sided and roofed when first built. In 1901, George Miller sent a letter to the Board of Supervisors stating, the flooring and timbers were very badly decayed and it was necessary to replace the whole floor system with new materials which in my judgement makes the bridge as good as the original. I would also recommend that the bridge be housed-in, the cost which would be about $560.00.2 No written records have been found to document when the bridge was covered, but presumably it was done soon after Miller’s recommendation. 1 “Notice to Contractors,” Chico Enterprise, April 1886. 2 The letter, quoted in a Butte County Historical Society bulletin, has not been located, but Miller’s recommendation to house the bridge was also reported in “Report on Bridge Work,” Chico Enterprise, July 5, 1901. HONEY RUN BRIDGE HAER No. CA-312 Page 3 Later alterations included rehabilitation of the bridge in 1972. At some point, a sprinkler system was installed along the full length of the bridge’s roof. B. Historical Context: California’s Covered Bridges Within a year of the discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill at Coloma in 1848, the population of California tripled. The urgent demand for roads and bridges was initially met by the establishment of privately-financed ferries, turnpikes, and toll bridges. In 1850, John T. Little of Castine, Maine, built California’s first covered bridge at Salmon Falls. By 1860, there were at least one hundred toll bridges in the gold mining region of California. The majority of these were timber truss bridges, and, presumably, many of them were covered. Over time, however, the covered bridges were replaced with new structures or lost to floods, fires, vandalism, neglect, or decay. By 1938, there were still thirty covered bridges in California. That number had dropped to seventeen by 1954.3 Today, there are nine covered bridges in California (see Appendix A).4 Construction As was typical in California, the discovery of what was reportedly the single biggest piece of gold ever found in North America, a 54-pound gold nugget in Dogtown (later Magalia) in Butte County, caused people to flock to the county.5 In 1883, local citizens petitioned the Butte County Board of Supervisors for a road from Butte Creek Canyon to Paradise Ridge. The county authorized construction of the road and awarded the contract to A.H. Chapman. In May 1885, a committee visited the worksite and reported “a very good mountain road…was being constructed with great care, so as to prevent washouts and landslides.”6 During the trip the committee also chose the site for a bridge across Butte Creek, near the intersection of Centerville Road. Three proposals were received in response to the Butte County Board of Supervisors published notice calling for plans and proposals for a wood bridge crossing Butte Creek. The contract was awarded to the American Bridge and Building Company for $4,295. George Miller was appointed superintendent of construction. The bridge was described in the newspaper as follows: On Wednesday, a contract was let by the Board for the building of a Pratt truss iron combination bridge at the Butte Creek crossing of the Carr Hill road. The price to be paid is $4,295. The bridge is to be 240 feet in length, and 18 feet in width, the piers are to be iron cylinders 44 inches in diameter filled with concrete, the spans are 126 feet, 80 3 S. Griswold Morley, The Covered Bridges of California (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1938), 1; Richard Sanders Allen, “Covered Bridges in California,” Connecticut River Valley Covered Bridge Society Bulletin 2 (June 1955): 5. 4 California also has several non-authentic or non-historic covered bridges that have appeared in recently-published lists, including: Aptos Creek Bridge (1974), Jacoby Creek (1969), Castleberry (1984), Roaring Camp (1969), and Brookwood (1969). 5 Joseph F. McGie, History of Butte County, Volume 1 (1840-1919) (Oroville, CA: Butte County Board of Education, 1982), 59. According to George Mansfield’s History of Butte County, 74, the gold nugget netted $10,690. 6 John S. Waterland, “Behind the Building of Honey Run Bridge,” Chico Enterprise-Record, January 3, 1988, 68. HONEY RUN BRIDGE HAER No. CA-312 Page 4 feet and 39 feet. The bridge is to be a strong and durable structure of the best class of bridge architecture. A contract was also let for the building of the same style and general plan of bridge at Rock Creek on the Chico and Shasta road for $2,050. Both bridges are to be built by the American Bridge Company of San Francisco, and are to be ready for travel by December 1st.7 On January 3, 1887, Miller reported the bridge had been completed in accordance with the contract, and the Butte County Board of Supervisors accepted it.8 Honey Run Bridge, as it was known, was probably so-called because of the honeybees that nested in the buttes surrounding the bridge. Alterations The Butte County Department of Public Works initiated plans for a new two-lane highway bridge just upstream of the covered bridge after a truck crashed into the Honey Run Covered Bridge on April 12, 1965, collapsing the eastern span. While the replacement bridge was under construction in 1965-66, public support grew in favor of restoring and preserving the covered bridge. A thousand people signed petitions, the Honey Run Covered Bridge Association was formed, and funds were donated for reconstruction. The bridge underwent rehabilitation in 1972. Pratt Truss The Honey Run Bridge uses Pratt trusses, which were developed by Caleb and Thomas Pratt. Born in 1812 to Boston architect Caleb Pratt, Thomas Pratt was educated in building construction. He studied architecture at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and subsequently went on to work for the Army Corps of Engineers. In 1833 he began designing bridges for railroads and was employed as a structural engineer by a number of railroad companies throughout his career. In 1844, Thomas and Caleb Pratt received a patent for a combination wood and iron truss with verticals in compression and diagonals in tension. This configuration, a reversal of the 1840 Howe truss, shortened the compression members and reduced the danger of buckling.